


Fireball Duel

by ViolentVioletEye



Series: The Rise and Fall of Quinn Firethief [1]
Category: Wizard101
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Depression, Dueling, Gen, Past Character Death, Quinn is a hot mess, character death (mentioned), cursing, haha get it cause he's a fire wizard, its five am im sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:14:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22970848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ViolentVioletEye/pseuds/ViolentVioletEye
Summary: Professor Cyrus finds Quinn outside sitting at a bench near his classroom in the middle of the night on a Saturday, drinking alcohol on school grounds.It's no surprise that he's less than impressed. It is a surprise that he has some pity for him.
Series: The Rise and Fall of Quinn Firethief [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1650793
Kudos: 5





	Fireball Duel

The first time they duel, it's a Saturday. It's been three months since Quinn lost his very best friend. It's been three months since he was the one that had to kill him. He's in the same spot that he used to hang out with... with _them,_ after a hard day in classes, after a rough and long quest and they needed a breather before going to their dorms. More often than not they hung out in Quinn's dorm. He can't stand to be there now, so that's why he's there so late at night. He goes to this spot often, sometimes just to chill. Other times, he cries.

That Saturday night, he drinks.

_(The fire. Her cackling. Her horrible words, the spell she had cast that turned his oldest friend against him. He and Sarai had no choice. Everyone said that and everyone agreed. They weren't murderers._ _He wasn't a murderer. It was him or the safety of the Sprial.)_

Professor Cyrus isn't pleased when he finds him, and that's clear when his snarky voice speaks up with a simple; "I believe that's against school rules, Firethief."

Quinn pauses, then lets out a scratchy, bitter laugh. His voice is hoarse from crying. "Go ahead and get me expelled then. You've been wanting to do that for ages." And he takes a swig from the bottle without a care in the world. He was too drunk to give a shit.

"I would like the bottle, Firethief."  
"Fight me for it, you old bastard."  
"Very well."

Quinn has to stop and wonder if he's dreaming, but when he looks back at Professor Cyrus, it all looks very real as he watches the Professor pull out his wand. "Wh- What the fuck?"

"You've challenged me to a duel, have you not? Whoever wins gets the bottle."

Quinn stares at him before a rage wells in him. He's been feeling it a lot, this rage that bubbles inside of him and blisters his soul. He thinks it's the need to battle, to hurt, or maybe to be hurt. He's not sure. Either way, it scares him every time he feels it. But he's too drunk. He doesn't care. So he stumbles to his feet and carelessly drops the bottle onto the bench.

"Alright," he growls but it's more like a slur. He pulls out his bow and he tastes copper and ash in his mouth as he often does, even though he's so wasted he can't remember why that always happens nowadays. At the moment, anyway. He'll remember when he's sober. He always does. "Hope you're ready to get your ass beat, old man."

_(To have a student in her hands, to be able to dangle it before Headmaster Ambrose and the other professors would be too dangerous. He did the right thing. He and Sarai did the right thing. But it doesn't take away the fire. It doesn't take away her cackling. It doesn't take away the sight of one of his own arrows sticking out of his best friend's chest, shot right through the heart.)_

Professor Cyrus beats him in two turns. It's no surprise to Quinn, even as he's utterly wasted. Quinn falls onto his back after the circle disappears and doesn't bother getting up. He stews over the fact that he just lost a perfectly good bottle of Fireball Whiskey, even though there hadn't been much left in it when Professor Cyrus stumbled upon him in the first place. Professor Cyrus picks up the bottle that had started all of this and caps it while examining the label before he looks down at Quinn. He asks him something. Quinn can't understand him, he's so far gone in his wasted state that he can't comprehend anything beyond the dull ache in his body from the duel. So he just flips him off instead and decides that's a perfectly fine answer.

Professor Cyrus huffs and then walks away.

Quinn is expecting to be expelled, at least suspended with a stern talking to for drinking on school grounds, but he hears nothing of the alcohol the next day, or the day after that.

He goes to the same spot the next Saturday, with another bottle of Fireball. He gets only a couple sips in before Professor Cyrus is there, staring at him with an emotion Quinn doesn't care- _want_ -to decipher.

_(He's sick of the pity. The pity is the reason why he can't go home. The pity is the reason why he can barely sit through his classes with his peers. People lose people all the time. He's no different. He's not special. His best friend is gone but he's not the first to go through such a tragedy, and certainly not the last. He's sick and tired of the pity, of the sad glances, of the knowing stares as if they understand. He wants it all to fade away. It fades away when he drinks.)_

They duel for the Fireball.

Professor Cyrus wins.

The question he had asked the first time is repeated after the duel, as Quinn hands him the bottle of Fireball and he's actually sober enough to understand.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

_(Yes. He's lonely. He's tired. He feels like a box of gunpowder set to explode.)_

Quinn tells him to fuck off.

They meet the same way next Saturday.

_(It's a cycle in his sad life. Its some stability. Its a way he can vent under the gist that he's just trying to enjoy his drinking in peace. He knows he's not fooling either of them. But he can pretend.)_

**Author's Note:**

> yeah I'm a Cyrus Drake sympathizer fight me


End file.
